Death Ringer
by elctraheart
Summary: In 2007, all the citizens of Queens, New York had whispered the name of Dominique Holmes, the woman who killed a stranger with a touch of her hand. When Director Fury, the Director of S.H.I.E.L.D., had placed her under the organization's enhanced index and didn't bring her out of hiding until a certain Asgardian god wanted to take over Earth and was forced to eliminate him.
1. ― 00 : THE SECRET IS OUT

**:: PROLOGUE ::**  
 **THE SECRET IS OUT**  
▂▂▂

FEBRUARY 13, 2007  
 _WRITTEN BY MARCUS JOHNSON_

DAILY BUGLE NEWS REPORT  
THE RISE OF AN ENHANCED IN QUEENS

A shocking tragedy struck through the streets of Queens, New York earlier this evening. Dr. Franklin Thorton, one of the top biologists in the city, was killed instantly by one of his new patients, Dominique Holmes.

From what the assistant of Dr. Thorton had released, Dominique Holmes went to seek help from him. She claimed that she was born with something unknown and wanted him to cure her from it. Of course, he agreed to help and started immediately. After a few appointments, Dr. Thorton decided to stop treatment due to the lack on information about her health and the risks that would follow.

However, our sources say that Holmes didn't take that information lightly. After he shook hands with her, Dr. Thorton's skin quickly grew pale as the life was sucked out of him. Within a matter of seconds, he died by the hands of the enhanced individual. Some have said that the woman broke down in tears while others claimed she was a psychopath. Unfortunately, we weren't able to find out what truly happened since the Director of the Strategic Homeland Intervention, Enforcement and Logistics Division (S.H.I.E.L.D.), Nicholas Fury, immediately took control over the situation and refused to release further details.

But now questions arise for the citizens of Queens. Who exactly is Dominique Holmes? How did she get her powers? Why did she kill Dr. Thorton? What does S.H.I.E.L.D. plan to do with her? And what exactly is she capable of?

 **—**

okay i really didn't plan on writing a semi-prologue but here i am finishing this up and finally posting on since its been on wattpad for a while now. alright so this just gives a brief background information about why she's on s.h.i.e.l.d.'s enhanced index and all of this shit will be explained throughout the story.

and also the next chapter will follow the timeline of the avengers movie where fury is gathering all of the og avengers and having them come together.

anyways let me know what you guys think so far bc feedback is everything to me lol.


	2. ― 01 : TROUBLE COMES KNOCKING

**:: CHAPTER ONE ::**  
 **TROUBLE COMES KNOCKING**  
▂▂▂

 **Tuesdays nights were always** quiet at Danny's Pizzeria. Sitting on a wobbly barstool behind the cash register, Dominique anxiously waited for closing time. She'd been doing this for hours. Without a customer in sight, her patience was thinning and she couldn't find much of anything to rid her of her boredom. She swore if she read through the employee handbook one more time she could recite it word for word. Yet here she was, counting down the endless hours until she could clean up and leave.

With all things of the past considered, there still wasn't much to complain about. Deep down, she was just happy being able to obtain a job in downtown Yonkers without the appearance of wide eye strangers upon seeing her. After what happened in Queens five years ago, the S.H.I.E.L.D. Enhanced index protocol had relocated her along with the addition of a new identity, in hopes of avoiding any conflict with civilians. Since her relocation, only a few people had noticed her. For this, she was extremely grateful. It allowed her to live her new life quitely.

However, not all things in Dominique's life were quiet. The shuffle of feet turned her head from the employee handbook to the sight of her boss leaving his office. His hair curly red locks were disheveled, his white polo untucked, and a worn out expression was on his face. Danny, her boss, sighed heavily as he leaned against the door behind him.

"Hey, I'm gonna have you take the rest of the night off." His voice was soft and Dominique could see the effects of tiredness etched in his features.

A confused frown appeared on the woman's face as she processed his words. Even on quiet nights such as the one she was currently dragging herself through, Danny had never let her off from her shift so early.

"Is everything okay?" she asked.

Danny averted his gaze away from her as he ran his fingers through his fiery mane of hair, an action he tended to do whenever he was stressed. "Yeah, it's just, um..." He paused for a brief moment, his blue eyes slowly starting to water. "We're losing a lot of money, and I can't seem to fix it."

As much as Dominique wanted to be blindsided by the news, she had a feeling that it was going to happen sooner rather than later. Over the past few months, Danny had been letting off most of his employees due to the pizzeria's financial issues. It was only a matter of time before he would do the same to her as well.

She slid off the stool and folded her arms against her chest. "Is there anything I could do to help?" Dominique asked softly. "I could go around town and put some posters up or hand out fliers."

Danny shook his head, "Already tried that. Nothing's worked for a while." He heaved out another sigh as he awkwardly shifted his weight from one foot to the other.

The feeling of pity washed over Dominique. She desperately wished there was something she could do to help Danny out of that situation because of all the people she had ever met, he deserved it the most. He had pursued his dream of opening a pizzeria and having the best tasting pizza in all of Yonkers, which he had accomplished. The only problem he was truly facing was the little amount of recognition he was receiving, thus resulting back to his financial issues.

When the deafening silence grew between them, Dominique knew it was her cue to gather her belongings and follow the same fate as the other former employees. She pressed her lips together to form a small line and nodded to herself. "I'll just go grab my things then."

"I'm sorry to do this to you, Monica." Monica. A name that she would never get used to being called. Monica Richards was the identity she was given to by S.H.I.E.L.D as part of the protocol and Dominique had to force herself not to cringe whenever someone mentioned it. Fortunately, Danny hadn't noticed.

The woman shook her head lightly. "It's okay, Danny. You did everything you could." Dominique gave him a small smile before turning around and headed towards the employee workroom. She walked past the enormous stacks of extra pizza boxes and other types cardboard stacks to the tiny area where the beige colored lockers were placed. She quickly entered in her combination, grabbed her raincoat, and her small brown purse that was so close to completely falling apart, and left the backroom. Dominique stepped towards Danny who tried to give her a smile, but failed miserably. "I really do hope all works out for you. You deserve it."

Then, the woman turned on her heel as she quickly slipped into her raincoat and made her way towards the exit. She opened the double glass doors and was immediately greeted with the humid, spring weather. Dominique pulled her hood over her head and trudged down the empty street to head back to her apartment.

The distance between the apartment and her job—well former job—wasn't too far of a walk which was good. Especially because she couldn't afford a car and it was better to walk everywhere in New York since the traffic was a total nightmare. But for that day, the walk back to her place felt farther due to the rain and from getting let off at Danny's Pizzeria.

Though as much as she wanted to, Dominique knew that she shouldn't complain. There were people in this world that lived their life far worse than her, and it would be incredible selfish of her to whine about her problems.

After walking a few blocks down the somewhat deserted sidewalk, the woman noticed the familiar apartment building. In her opinion, it wasn't very pleasant to look at. It looked like any other apartment building with the maroon colored bricks and fire escape balconies, except hers looked rather worn and distressed with all of the graffiti, broken windows, and the trash people have littered around. Yet once again, it could be worse.

S.H.I.E.L.D. was the reason she was able to live in a somewhat stable apartment in the first place. After everything that happened in Queens, Dominique didn't know where else to go. She knew she couldn't go back home to her parents and face them when they knew what she had done. The woman faced limited options and then S.H.I.E.L.D. interfered with her life, and placed her under their index.

And if she were completely honest, the index protocols weren't as bad she thought they would be. At least once a month, a couple of agents would show up at her door (unannounced of course) and would proceed with the monthly check up routine. They would usually ask the same questions every time: _"How are you?"_ and _"What have you been doing recently?"_ and the dramatic _"Have you used your abilities on anyone?"_ Even though they provided her new wrist gauntlets that cancelled out her powers every time they met with her, they still ask that one question that constantly made her stomach drop. But that was the only thing she had endure. The constant questioning and then they would leave promptly. Other than that, she would continue on with her normal routine.

Upon entering the building, Dominique was greeted with what felt like a thousand heartbeats. They rushed over her like an ocean's wave and she had to pause for a moment—slightly overwhelmed. It wasn't easy for her to handle the sensation whenever she was in a crowded area (which was highly ironic since the woman lived in one of the most overpopulated states in the America). Over time, it had gotten better, but the feeling still made the woman unsteady for time to time.

Once Dominique regained control, she released a breath she didn't realize she was holding and resumed walking. The woman meandered her way past the lobby and jogged up the stairs to get to her floor. To her dismay, her apartment was on the ninth floor and Dominique wanted to scowl whoever carried through with that idea. It was a hassle to reach her room every night, especially after a long and dull day at her former job.

But, once again, she shouldn't be complaining.

After she reached the ninth floor, the woman strolled down the long hallway to reach her apartment that was located at the end. While she passed the other rooms, she could feel the sources of life inside. She could feel the soft and steady heartbeats of families that were already sleeping and the quickened pace of worry in those who were struggling to make ends meet. It was almost like a routine that Dominique would feel.

However, the woman paused abruptly when she felt another presence. Her eyes traveled to wherever that energy came from and they landed on the last door on the left. Her apartment.

Her stomach sank into an abyss as the fear crept inside of her. Oddly enough, she was more afraid for the intruder rather than herself. She knew that nothing could happen to her. The intruder, on the other hand, not so much.

Instinctively, Dominique reached inside her worn out purse to retrieve pepper spray that she carried at all times and cautiously tipped-toed to her door. With one hand on the door handle and the other held the pepper spray, the woman inhaled deeply and quickly opened the door (which was already unlocked by the other person), ready to spray the intruder. Her heart hammered against her chest as she saw a silhouette of a man that hid himself in the shadowy corner of her small living room. To her surprise, the man didn't even flinch when noticed her. It seemed as if he had expected her to arrival.

"You can put the spray down, Miss Holmes."

If there was one voice that was implanted in her head for forever, it was the voice of Director Fury. Even though they had interacted only a few times over the course of five years, the way he spoke was unlike no other. He was the one who picked her up from the ground, gave her a new identity, and a chance to start over. Granted she wasn't able to do much due to the extensive rules under the protocol, but the woman was still more than thankful for what he had done for her.

But thankful was not the emotion she felt in that current moment. Dominique was more shaken up and slightly furious for the man having to break into her apartment and scaring her senseless. "You know, breaking and entering is still considered a crime." Dominique retorted as she lowered her pepper spray back into her purse. "Even for the Director of S.H.I.E.L.D."

Fury leaned over to the side and flicked on the light switch of her lamp, instantly making her apartment filled with the light. He stepped out of the corner and headed towards her tiny dining room table. Dominique noticed that he was in the same attire as usual, with the infamous eye patch over his left eye, down to the freshly polished shoes, all in black of course.

What was different was the silver briefcase he carried in his right hand. She wanted to ask what it was for, but knowing how secretive he was, she decided against it. He sat down on the wooden chair and placed that briefcase beside him in the floor. "Well, I have some urgent news to discuss with you that needs to be taken care of immediately," he informed her as he leaned against the back of the chair comfortably.

Urgent news, she thought curiously to herself. Not once had Fury ever mentioned anything similar to that and it only made the fear rise back up in her. Nevertheless, Dominique was still interested in what he had to say. "What's going on?" she asked as she shrugged off her raincoat and purse, and put them on the armchair next to the table.

"How would you like to go out of hiding and use your powers to kill an evil god?" he questioned bluntly.

The woman raised her brows and gawked at him. She waited for him to wheeze out a laugh or to even crack a smile to indicate that he was joking. But the hard look on his face told her otherwise. "Wait, are you serious?"

"Deadly," he responded. A pointed look appeared on her face. Did he really believe that Dominique would be comfortable with the fact that he had broken into her apartment and expected her to drop everything to go murder someone? If he did, then he had wasted his time on a lost cause. As if he had read her mind, Fury pulled a beige file out of his deep jacket pocket, and tossed it onto the table. "Before you jump to a decision, have a quick look at it," he suggested, as his hand motioned towards the file.

The woman hesitated. If she were completely honest, Dominique wasn't entirely sure if she should listen to his request or to shut him out entirely and send him back to wherever he came from. However, if she followed through with the latter, she knew Fury wouldn't take no for an answer. Especially if it revolved around something extremely important. So Dominique ended up doing as she was told, sitting in the seat across from him and opening up the file.

First thing she saw inside was a S.H.I.E.L.D. document meant for only Level 7s' and above. Why Fury showed her that even when she wasn't a part of the organization was beyond her. Yet, she didn't feel the need to question him since he always had his reasons. The document was labeled _Tesseract_ in bold letters, which appeared to be an abnormally glowing, blue cube.

"What is this?" she asked.

"That was HYDRA's secret weapon during the second world war." Fury leaned in the chair, folding his arms across his chest. "Howard Stark found the cube while he was searching for Captain America."

Captain America. That was a name she hadn't heard since her history classes back in high school. Everyone in the nation, maybe even the entire world, knew of Steve Rogers' persona of Captain America. The legendary super soldier who took down a terrorist group, known as HYDRA, by sacrificing himself for the greater good. He saved the world from a greater evil by sinking a plane that carried dangerous weapons into the Atlantic ocean, ending his short lived legacy. Well, that was what everyone thought until they discovered the hero had actually been frozen for 70 years. Dominique remembered watching the news not that long ago and heard the anchors excitedly discussing the uplifting situation.

"An Asgardian god, calls himself Loki, took the tesseract just a few hours ago," Fury continued. "And I'm recruiting a group of people who can stop him from using the cube."

Dominique flipped through the pages of the file and noticed familiar names: Tony Stark, Steve Rogers, and Bruce Banner. All of them have been on the news, especially Stark since he loved showing his face in front of the camera. And it made questions form in the woman's head as to why Fury wanted her to tag along. "I'm sorry, but why do I have to be involved?" she asked, which only made him tilt his head in response. "I mean, you've got all these other people so why do you need me?"

Fury leaned forward on the table and placed his arms on top of it. "Well, for one, you do have a unique set of abilities that we may have to use if the things go south." She frowned upon his choice of words, but decided not to interrupt. "And, for another, you can't die."

That sentence made her heart sink. She quickly averted her gaze from his and crossed her arms over her chest, an act she did whenever she was uncomfortable. It caught her off guard that Fury would know about what happened a few months after the incident in Queens. But then again, she should've have been surprised since he happened to know everything. But nevertheless, she still softly mumbled, "You know about that?"

"You mean about your overdose? Yes, I know about that," he answered truthfully, with a hint of sincerity. Yes, she overdosed. With what happened five years ago, Dominique didn't know how to move on from the past and focus on a future. She didn't see a light at the end of the dark and empty tunnel so she tried to find her own way out. But she swallowed a bunch of random pills from her medicine cabinet in the kitchen and quickly collapsed onto the floor to only have woken up, back to normal.

To put that in more simpler words, Dominique Holmes tried to kill herself, but eventually realized that her abilities wouldn't allow her to.

Fury noticed he hit a nerve when he saw the tears starting to form in her eyes. He sighed and tried a gentler approach. "Listen, Holmes, you're the most valuable asset we have. We could really use you to—"

"No," she said sternly as she glanced back to look at him. Dominique didn't want to be used and that's exactly what he wanted. He wanted to use her powers even after she vowed to herself that she would never use them to harm another. In fact, he wanted to make her a hero when she never wanted to be one in the first place. "Come on, Fury, let's be real. We both know that I don't have what it takes to be the hero that you want me to be. With that being said, I would really appreciate it if I lived the rest of my life unbothered by you," she continued rather harshly.

The woman didn't usually have a hard tone whenever she spoke, so it surprised both Fury and herself when the strong and defensive words slipped out of her mouth. But at that current moment, she didn't really care. All she wanted was to get back into her normal routine and forget that this entire conversation ever happened.

To her dismay, Fury wasn't ready to walk away without getting his entire point across.

"So you're willing to let innocent people die just so you can stay out of the spotlight?" he fired back. He knew those words would stab Dominique in the heart, but her feelings didn't matter at that point. What mattered was stopping the Asgardian god and protecting the nation. When Dominique didn't answer, he continued. "Look, all I ask of you is to be there as our back up option. We won't need you unless it's absolutely necessary. And the sweeten the deal," he started, reaching down to pull out the silver briefcase that she saw earlier and placed it on the table. "I've brought a couple of things for you."

He unlocked and opened the briefcase and spun it around for the woman to see. The first thing that caught her eye was a pair of silver arm gauntlets. Carefully, she pulled them out and examined the details of the design up close. It was a lightweight material that was freshly shined and formed to fit from the back of her hand to halfway down her forearm. The material felt awfully similar to the power canceling bands she wore on each wrist that she had been wearing for the past five years. Fury himself had given them to her once he placed her in the index.

"Those gauntlets were handmade by my top two agents, Fitzsimmons," Fury informed her. "They've been studying your abilities for a while now, and created them to help you control your powers instead of canceling them out completely."

Dominique nodded. She gently set the gauntlets to the side to continue looking through the briefcase. The next item was something that was completely out of her comfort zone. It was a skin-tight black suit with dark red detailing on the seams. She raised a concerned brow at Fury, "You want me to wear this?"

A chuckle slipped out of his lips, "Fitzsimmons made that as well. When I told them that they would be making protective wear for you, they got a little carried away." A ghost of a smile showed on her face, but soon vanished as she remembered what all of the items were for. They were for her _only_ if she were to accept his ludacris offer.

Once again, Fury seemed to read her mind. "I know that you don't want to do this, but don't think about yourself at the moment. Think about the people. Think about the lives that will be lost if you aren't there as backup."

And as much as she didn't want to, Dominique had to admit that the deal wasn't all that bad. If she were to accept, then all she would have to do is sit on the sidelines and watch the real heroes do the dirty work. After all, what were the odds of Fury's plan going downhill when you had Iron Man and Captain America? And like the man had said, she would be there as backup. What could go wrong?

"So I will be the last option?" she asked, just to clarify before she came to a final decision.

Fury nodded reassuringly. "Our last resort."

Dominique sighed in defeat. _Well, here goes nothing._ "Okay."


	3. ― 02 : PEACE MEET DESTRUCTION

While Dominique Holmes was either a hit or miss to Director Fury, he was extremely grateful to have her onboard. He felt more confident to have her around to be his backup plan if the rest of his were designated to fail. Even though the man wanted to doubt that he would need her since she was a wild card, he didn't want to take any chances. He needed all the people he could get to take down the one who called himself a god.

Which was why he payed someone else another unexpected visit that night as well. And that person happened to be Steve Rogers, the man out of time. Fury knew that he jump back into mission while he had only recently awoke from being frozen for seventy years. He had a strong feeling that Captain Rogers needed a way to blow off steam, and he figured that getting him back into the field would help resolve that issue.

Fury found him going through a few rounds on a couple of punching bags at the local gym. The state that the super soldier was currently in wasn't perfectly ideal. It was obvious the legend himself suffered from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder and had a lot of pent up anger from missing out on so many years. Hell, Director Fury witnessed him tore open a punching bag from the force of his blows. It was clear that Steve needed something to distract himself, and even if it could possible do more damage to his mental state, Fury knew it was better to get Rogers involved with the mission than let him take out all of his rage on punching bags. Rogers needed to do something useful in order to take his mind off things.

After he had given him the same rundown as he did with Dominique, the Director mentioned he left Steve a debriefing packet back at his apartment to bring him up to speed on the upcoming events that were about to happen. In the file contained more information that S.H.I.E.L.D.'s collected on the tesseract over the past few weeks, the limited knowledge on Asgardians, and background checks on all the assets he was recruiting for the mission.

When he arrived back to his apartment, he set his belongings that he brought to the gym on the side. The super soldier scanned the area to search for the debrief packet, and found it lying on the wooden table by the wall beside him. Steve sighed heavily as he sat down and began to read through the thick, beige packet, wanting to get it over with as soon as possible.

He flipped through the papers, taking in all the information that Fury had left for him. From what he skimmed through so far, it was a recap of what the Director had mentioned back at the gym. Yet when his blue eyes caught sight of the photo of the tesseract again, a tinge of anger struck through his body. Steve clenched and then unclenched his fists repeatedly, a frown forming onto his face. S.H.I.E.L.D. shouldn't have gotten a hold of an object that they didn't understand. In fact, he didn't understand it either if he were completely honest. All he knew about that cube is that it shouldn't be held in the wrong hands. And of course, the man that Fury had mentioned, Loki, had gotten hold of it.

Steve skipped over a few pages, catching glimpses here and there of names that he's overheard before either on the television or listening in on conversations from strangers. Howard Stark's son, Tony, was in the file as well, which he found rather unsettling. While Steve had his hopes that Tony would resemble a lot of Howard's qualities, he didn't feel over the moon that Stark would be a part of the mission. Yes, they were similar in some way, but they shared plenty of differences. From the footages he had seen on the news and what he gathered from his background check, the famous Iron Man was just a man who thought very highly of himself. Steve knew soldiers, good men who risked everything to protect their country. Tony Stark didn't possess that same quality, only fighting when it's beneficial for him. Normally, Steve wouldn't judge someone without getting to know them first, but he couldn't help himself, especially since Tony and Howard were close to complete opposites.

Moving along, he skimmed over a few more pages, taking in all the information that he could comprehend. It contained many things he was unfamiliar with due to being frozen for so long, but he did his best to figure out what everything meant and pieced them all together in his head. As he read, he felt something underneath all the papers. Curiously, he flipped through the pages to find a small device (he believed it was called a flash drive) at the very end of the packet. His brows furrowed in confusion, wondering what was inside and why Fury had left that for him when it could've been already printed out in the debrief.

Steve quickly got up from the chair to retrieve his computer, which S.H.I.E.L.D. had provided for him, and plugged the drive in. Computers were still a foreign piece of technology to the man. Of course they were invented before he went under the ice, but they were still different to him, just like everything else he used to know. They were smaller, thinner, and had access to a bunch of resources to which he still didn't fully understand. The six months he had spent in Delaware had taught him a lot of the necessities to adapt to the twenty-first century, all of which he was grateful for. Yet it was still hard for him to learn all the technological advances over the past seventy years. It constantly made him feel even more out of place than he felt before.

After he plugged in the drive, the icon showed up on his screen a few seconds later. He dragged the cursor towards the icon to open it. As he did, the drive only contained two files, a video and document. Both were labeled as S.H.I.E.L.D. Enhanced Index. It was something the super soldier had never heard before, which only added more to his curiosity. What did Fury need with an enhanced? Was he or the other assets not enough for the mission?

He decided to open the document first, saving the video next. When he opened it, the document reveal a detailed profile of a certain individual under the index, Dominique Holmes. The picture of her showed that she was a young woman with dark, chestnut colored hair, soft brown, almond shaped eyes, and deep bronzed skin.

As he read through the profile, he gathered all of her information. It listed her date of birth, where she was born and raised, her parents, and basically everything else about her. The woman, Dominique, was admitted in the index five years ago. A brief description stated there had been an incident which caused her powers to be exposed, which S.H.I.E.L.D. had to clean up immediately before more people had to ask question. The organization relocated her to downtown Yonkers with a new identity and living arrangements.

Under the abilities section, it mentioned that she could harm and potentially kill someone, but only with physical contact. And there were two known aliases that were listed. One was Monica Richards, her new identity, and the other was Death Ringer.

That sounds subtle, he thought to himself. It must've been what the citizens have called her for when they found out on the news. Then, he closed out of the document and moved onto the video.

In the video, he saw the woman again. The camera was pointed directly at her sitting down at a steel table, most likely in an interrogation room. Behind her, Steve noticed the notorious logo of S.H.I.E.L.D. which meant that the organization was the one to record her. He assumed that the video would reveal how she was emitted into the index.

While he was right about that, it wasn't the only thing that it revealed. Steve took a closer look at the video and realized that there were certain details he hadn't noticed at first. He noticed the woman's eyes were bloodshot and puffy, indicating that she had been crying. And every part of her was trembling. Her head, bottom lip, hands, and everything else. Anyone could instantly tell that she was shaken to the core, a second away from falling apart.

"Miss Holmes," a familiar voice spoke from behind the camera. Steve immediately recognized it belonged to Fury. "Will you please state what happened today in your own words?" But Dominique didn't answer. She appeared to be in a daze, not paying attention to her surroundings. Probably in shock, he thought once again. "Miss Holmes," he repeated louder. The woman snapped back to reality and turned her head towards the sound of Fury's voice. He must've motioned for her to talk because Dominique blinked rapidly for a quick second before clearing her throat and facing the camera.

She took in a shaky breath and spoke quietly, "I, uh, was doing some research... Trying to find someone who could cure w-what I am." Dominique paused for a brief moment and then continued. "After years and years of nothing, I came across Dr. Franklin Thorton. From what I've read about him, I thought maybe he could fix me or at least help me. I waited months to schedule a meeting with him, and when I finally did, he agreed to help me when I showed him what I can do—"

"And what is it you can do, Miss Holmes," Fury interrupted.

"I-I'm honestly not really sure," she admitted. "All I know is that if I touch someone, or something, it usually never ends well." She glanced down at the metal bands around both of her wrists. From what Steve could gather, he assumed they were restraints, probably designed to tame the power in order to avoid any problems. "I, uh, used to wear gloves every day to avoid accidentally hurting someone when I was younger. As I got older, I learned to control what I had, and I didn't need them anymore so I stopped wearing them. But when Dr. Thorton ran some tests on me, I guess it made my situation worse. Neither he nor I knew about that until he—" Dominique stopped herself and bit down on her bottom lip, trying to suppress her overwhelming motions.

However, her efforts were in vain when tears began to roll down her cheeks. Steve watched as the woman cried. He heard her weep how she never meant to hurt him in between sobs, and Fury trying to calm her down, but it didn't do much good. When he felt that he saw enough of the video, Steve closed the laptop and sat in silence, trying to wrap his head around what he just witnessed.

This woman, Dominique Holmes, had killed an innocent man who experimented on her and caused her to become unstable. He understood that the situation was an accident and it obviously impacted her in many ways. What he didn't quite understand was why Fury wanted to recruit her. He was sure that the man had his reasons, of course, but Steve wasn't sure that she would be up for the job. From what he got from the video, Dominique didn't seem like the fighter type for if the mission got complicated. Not that Steve was in a place to judge due to the fact that he was under the same circumstance before he was injected with the serum.

Steve just didn't know if the woman would fight alongside them when the time came or be a coward and hide from the action. He needed to know if she would be someone he could count on if it were necessary.

* * *

The next morning came a lot sooner than Dominique had anticipated. She spent the rest of the night tossing and turning in her sleep, occasionally check the time on the alarm every couple of hours. Though every time she did, it only caused her to stress out even more. Why had she agreed to Fury's request was all the woman thought about throughout the night. She should've followed her gut, forced the man to leave her apartment, and forget all of that happened. The woman didn't want to be a part of any it. But of course, she didn't listen, and it was too late to turn back now.

When the alarm clock blared the familiar and infuriating tone, signaling that it was six in the morning, Dominique reluctantly slipped out of the comfort of her bed and shut it off. The alarm was meant to wake her up for her former job. Now, it was for a mission that she certainly wasn't fit for.

"What am I doing," she asked herself, a question that she couldn't answer. What exactly was she doing? Why did she get herself involved in this? Why couldn't she be left alone when there were plenty of other assets to choose from? All of these questions were left unanswered, and there was nothing she could do about it. What she could do now was proceed with Fury's plan and pray to God that all goes well.

The brunette flipped the covers off of her, grabbed her soft knit sweater that rested along the edge of her bed, and trudged towards the kitchen. Dominique rubbed her eyes tiredly while stumbling to the coffee machine to make her daily dose of caffeine. She had been drinking coffee every single morning as an average person would normally do. It helped keep her awake after the recurring nightmares that haunted her late at night. She preferred to keep her caffeinated drink quite simple, only adding a bit of creamer and two packets of sugar to slightly lessen the bitter taste. After her coffee was ready, the woman sipped the hot drink as she reached for the freezer to pull out her microwavable breakfast sandwiches.

They weren't an ideal breakfast to many, but they got the job done for her. With the incredible small amount of skills she had towards cooking, anything that was microwavable was good enough for her. It was better than her trying to figure out how to work a stove without accidentally starting a fire in her apartment. She placed the egg and bacon sandwich in the microwave, added the time, and patiently waited for her food to be done.

Occasionally, Dominique checked the clock, which hung above her door, to make sure she knew the time. It was almost a quarter past six, which meant she still had a little over thirty-five minutes to kill before she would have to follow Fury's directions from the previous night.

The microwaved beeped once her sandwich was finished. She gladly retrieved her breakfast along with her coffee, and sat down at the dining table. The file and briefcase that Fury brought were still laid out on the table, not having been touched since he left her apartment. She didn't bother to look at them again, knowing it would only cause her to stress out even more than she already had. Unfortunately, they didn't fail to taunt her while she ate her breakfast.

To distract herself, she turned on the TV. The channel that came up was the local news network, something that Dominique watched quite frequently. She liked to know what was happening around her, wanting to stay up to date about the important things. Though, today was not the day to watch the news. She skipped through the channels to find something that would help pass the time and ease her nervousness. But as she continued to surf through the channels, there wasn't anything on was appealing. Even though it was still early in the morning, the woman hoped she would be able to find a rerun of a show that seemed interesting enough to take her mind off of everything. To her dismay, there wasn't any.

With that, she decided to turn it off, and finished the rest of her sandwich. She grabbed her half empty cup of coffee, and walked back towards her bedroom to get ready for the long day. Dominique set her cup on her nightstand while she trudged across the room to her closet. She pulled out some clothes, and set them nicely onto her bed, double checking to make sure the items worked well together. Then, she stripped off of her sweater and pajamas, and slid into the outfit. It consisted of a white, lightweight blouse, light-washed denim jeans, and dark, brown ankle boots. It was simple, but practical. The woman wouldn't dare to wear anything that wasn't comfortable.

Without wasting any time, the brunette sipped the rest of her coffee as she tidied up her bed and tossed her pajamas into the overflowing laundry bin. When she finished with both her room and coffee, she entered back into the kitchen, and placed her cup in the sink, making a mental a note to wash it when she returned. Dominique made her way to collect the file and silver briefcase, knowing she would need them as a "just in case." She snatched her purse that she left on the armchair from the night before, and glanced back at the clock. It was a few minutes before seven in the morning, letting her know she was right on schedule.

Dominique paused by the door, rethinking the situation over again. She was about to leave the comfort of her home to become an asset to a secretive organization and work alongside people she didn't know nor did she want to. She had to admit, Fury was in way over his head for thinking that she could be useful. He knew that she had no control over whatever the hell kind of powers she had. Even with the cancelation wristbands being swapped out for the stabilizing arm gauntlets, who knew what could happen if she came face to face with this Asgardian, Loki. Since her abilities had been dormant for five years, what if they didn't work when the time came. Fury placed his bet on something unreliable. Why he wanted her was still a mystery, especially when both of them knew she was a liability.

But what was done, was done. The decision was final. The woman had given her word to him, desperately hoping he wouldn't take advantage of it. She would do what Fury ordered, end of discussion.

Before her mind could think of all the ways the mission could go wrong, she exited the apartment and locked the door behind her. Instead of walking down the nine flights of stairs to get to the main level, she went in the opposite direction. Following Fury's instructions from their conversation, the woman jogged up the remaining three flights of the building and headed towards the door that led to the roof. The Director mentioned there would be one of his most trusted agents waiting for her arrival on the rooftop in one of the organization's quinjets.

Sure enough, the man was right. After opening the door, she was greeted by a middle aged man in a neatly pressed suit who stood next to the quinjet. When he caught sight of her, the man approached her with a warm smile. "Miss Holmes, I'm Agent Coulson," he introduced. "I'm glad to see you're able to join us for the mission." The man, Agent Coulson, seemed to be friendly which Dominique found hard to believe. Most of the agents she met from S.H.I.E.L.D. weren't the type to strike a conversation or even give off a nice welcoming. Many just wanted to ask the routine questions, and move onto something more worth their time, which she couldn't really blame them for. The monthly check ups weren't enjoyable on both sides.

Dominique did her best to give him a genuine smile, but it ended up feeling forced. She knew it didn't reach her eyes, but it was the most she could at that moment. "It's not like I really had a choice," she answered truthfully. Though it was the truth, she hadn't meant to come out in a harsh way. She was only trying to be honest.

Agent Coulson's smile slightly faltered, obviously not expecting that answer. "Well, this is a very important matter. We need all the help we can get." To be fair, he wasn't wrong. Dominique understood how dangerous that entire situation was. If she was in Fury's position as well, the woman would've gone to great lengths to eliminate the threat as quickly as possible, just as he did. Yet it didn't change the fact that she didn't want to be involved in the first place. But she chose not to discuss that with Agent Coulson. She could only imagine how much pressure he's under with all the chaos happening with the Asgardian god, and probably didn't want to start an argument with the woman before him. So she nodded in response, and allowed the man to lead her towards the jet. The platform of the aircraft lowered, and the two stepped inside.

When they entered, Dominique noticed someone else was already onboard. And that someone else happened to be the legendary Captain America. To say that she was starstruck would've been a vast overstatement, but she had to admit that seeing him in the flesh felt surreal. He was much taller in person than she realized, having about a good five inches over her. His blonde hair was neatly swooped out of his face, a sharp contrast to how men styled theirs nowadays. He wore a plaid shirt underneath a brown leather jacket, and a pair of dark colored slacks. His appearance was definitely different from what the woman was used to seeing, but it most certainly wasn't bad. Given his circumstance, the man probably stuck to what he was familiar with, and that was perfectly okay with her. "Captain Rogers," Agent Coulson announced as they approached him, "I would like you to meet—"

"Dominique Holmes," the Captain finished confidently.

The color in her face flushed away, taking completely off guard. She hadn't expected him to know who she was—or even what she was for that matter. Honest, she felt a bit disappointed that he did. She hoped to make a good impression on someone as admirable as him; it would've made her feel better if a man as great as him treated her as if she were normal. "You know who I am," she asked softly, averting her eyes while doing so. It would be unfortunate on her part if he thought lowly of her for what happened five years ago, though she couldn't blame him if he did. Dominique would've done the same if she were in his shoes.

He nodded, "My debrief contained all the information needed for the mission. It's nice to meet you, Dominique." Captain Rogers held out a hand for her to shake. She stared at it uncomfortably, knowing well that she wouldn't dare to return the gesture. Even with the wristbands, she preferred to keep human contact extremely limited. She wouldn't want to taint someone as symbolic as him in any way, shape, or form. The super soldier didn't catch on at first, waiting patiently for her to shake his hand. Then he abruptly retracted it to his side and cleared his throat awkwardly, "I'm sorry, my mistake—"

"No, no, it's okay, really," Dominique reassured. "It's not your fault, trust me." Her grip around the briefcase handle tightened as she shifted her weight from one foot to the other, unsure of what to do or say.

Fortunately, Agent Coulson spoke up to save the both of them from the awkward silence, "I recommend the two of you to get strapped in. We are about to take off." Nodding in unison, the two did as they were told, strapping themselves to their seats. Dominique and Captain Rogers sat on the same side on the jet, a few seats in between to give enough space for one another. The brunette placed her briefcase and purse on the seat beside her, finally able to relax her arms from the weight of them. And as Agent Coulson had mentioned, the platform of the aircraft closed, and heard the S.H.I.E.L.D. agents in the cockpit flick switches on their control console, ready to begin take off.

Subconsciously, her hands latched onto the safety straps with a strong grip on them. Her stomach began to flip upside down as the anxiousness started settling in. She had been so caught up on worrying about the upcoming mission when she hadn't even fully processed her fear of flying. Well, it technically wasn't a fear since she had never done it before, but it terrified her nonetheless. Dominique squeezed her eyes shut as the quinjet ascended into the air and traveled towards their destination. She breathed harshly in and out of her nose, hoping it would help ease her nerves. It helped, barely, but the more she felt the jet move, the quicker her heart pumped against her chest.

As if he sensed the uneasiness from her, Captain Rogers turned to her direction. "First time flying," he asked in a concerned manner. She was taken by surprise, causing her to open her eyes. Her cheeks burned red with embarrassment, sheepishly ducking her face to try and hide it.

Dominique let out a nervous breath, "Is it really that obvious?"

"Well if it makes you feel any better, it's not as scary as it seems," Agent Coulson added. He sat down in one of the seats on the opposite side of the aircraft and strapped himself in. "It's more likely to get into a car accident than a plane crash so we should be good." Even though she knew his intentions were well, the woman felt even more frightened than she had been before.

She needed a distraction. Badly. Her eyes searched around the jet, trying to pick up on something to focus her mind on for the time being. The jet was pretty small, but not in a suffocating way. There wasn't much to look at either, making it harder for her to find a way to relax.

"Have you met any of the other assets Fury's recruited?" Captain Rogers questioned. Dominique hesitated, wondering if he was trying to engage in small talk or figure out her purpose for the mission. The latter would make more sense, considering how she was just a nobody compared to someone like Tony Stark or Bruce Banner. But it would be nice if he truly wanted to hold a conversation with her. After all, it wasn't an everyday experience to talk to a living legend.

Nevertheless, she simply answered, "N-No, I haven't." It was true. Not once had she been in the same room with any one of the assets. The only reason she even knew of them was through the news really. "I only know what the Director told me." He nodded in response. The silence lingered between them for a brief moment once again before Agent Coulson pulled out a thin tablet from the inside of his blazer pocket. He handed the device over to Captain Rogers, mentioning that more information on the assets were stored on there. Instead of shifting over a couple of seats to have a better view of the tablet, Dominique remained in hers, figuring that she'll have a chance to look at it eventually.

Occasionally, she glanced at the super soldier as he intently swiped through news articles and youtube videos that were released on the internet. Although, he did have some trouble with the device a few times. Captain Rogers had to pause before he realized his mistake and corrected it. Dominique had to admit that he had adapted pretty well to the twenty-first century with all things considered. She could imagine how confused he must've been when he woke up to a completely new world. A place where technology was far more advanced than anyone in his day could dream of, a larger variety of food, and different styles of clothing. It must've been hard for him to deal with all those changes as well as all the stuff he missed out on.

The woman wondered why he joined Fury's mission. Was it because he was put in a position where he couldn't say no to the Director of S.H.I.E.L.D., just like her? Or was it because it felt familiar to him? Fighting. Having an enemy to take down. Protecting a nation. It wouldn't be surprising if that was his reason. It made total sense.

After a while, she heard one of the pilots notifying Agent Coulson that they were 40 minutes out from home base. They were getting closer to wherever they were supposed to be heading. Finally. Dominique couldn't wait to get to this secretive base and out of the small quinjet. She never knew what it felt like to miss the ground so much until then.

"So, this Dr. Banner way trying to replicate the serum they used on me?" Captain Rogers asked Agent Coulson, his eyes still glued on the tablet.

The middle aged man stood beside the super soldier, his right hand lightly grasping onto the handle bars above him. "A lot of people were," he answered. "You were the world's first superhero. Banner thought gamma radiation might hold the key to unlocking Erksine's original formula."

From what she could see from her seat, a video of Dr. Banner, who had transformed into the Hulk, smashing around a bunch of stuff. Even though she couldn't exactly see the whole thing, it clearly didn't sound very pleasant. "Didn't really go his way, did it?"

"Not so much. When he's not that thing, though, the guy's like a Stephen Hawking." Captain Rogers lifted his head up, his brows furrowed in confusion. Obviously, the man had yet to hear about another genius who walked the Earth.

Dominique responded for Agent Coulson, "He's like another version of Albert Einstein." Thankfully, Captain Rogers understood that comparison since Einstein was famous around his time.

"I gotta say, it's an honor to meet you, officially," Agent Coulson admitted sheepishly. Captain Rogers beamed at him, looking a bit surprised to hear that. "I sort of met you, I mean, I watched you while you were sleeping." Dominique bit down on her lip, trying to repress a smile. The super soldier lowered his head and formed an uncomfortable expression on his face. They all knew that wasn't what Agent Coulson meant, but it still sounded awkward nonetheless. "I mean, I was... I was present while you were unconscious from the ice. You know, it's really, it's just a... just a huge honor to have you on board."

Captain Rogers turned off the tablet, placed it on the empty seat beside him, and strolled over towards the front of the jet. "Well, I hope I'm the man for the job."

"Oh, you are. Absolutely." Agent Coulson responded almost immediately. "Uh, we've made some modifications to the uniform. I had a little design input." He added proudly.

"The uniform? Aren't the stars and stripes a little... old-fashioned?" There was a slight sense of disappointment in his voice. He was overly aware that he didn't belong in the current timeline, that he too was old-fashioned.

"With everything that's happening and the things that are about to come to light, people might just need a little old-fashioned." Dominique mentally agreed with Agent Coulson's statement. She believed that people would appreciate something familiar instead of anything foreign. And an alien invasion was as foreign as it could be.

* * *

okay so this is the longest chapter i've ever wrote so far and can i just say that i'm proud of that? like i usually stop around 2-3k words, and to see that i went over my usual limit is honestly an amazing feeling! 5k words was my ultimate goal for this and im so happy i've made it this far!

and i wrote in steve's perspective in the first part which felt weird, tbh. i hope i remained in character for him since i'm very picky about that kind of stuff, like i really wanted him to be accurate yannoe. if there's anything you liked/don't like, feel free to tell me so i know what to improve on!

also i hope you guys enjoyed this chapter! if you like longer chapters like this, please let me know! if you like shorter chapters, 2-3k words, then let me know as well! feedback is absolutely everything and y'all know how much i love it so pls spam away.


	4. ― 03 : HEARTBEATS GALORE

The rest of the flight was very calm, not much discussion between her, Captain Rogers, and Agent Coulson. Other than the Agent asking her a few questions about her new stabilizing gauntlets and suit, comfortable silence loomed over them for the next forty minutes.

When the quinjet landed at its destination, which she assumed was a S.H.I.E.L.D. base, Dominique never felt more relieved. She was ready to get back on the ground, not wanting to be in the aircraft any longer than she had to. The woman had spent enough time outside her comfort zone for one day. She eagerly unbuckled herself from the seat, collected her items from beside her, and waited patiently for platform to be lowered. Captain Rogers followed suit, stuffing his hands inside his leather jacket. Once it did, they walked out in unison with Agent Coulson not far behind them.

Now that she was out of the jet, she finally got a good view of the base. There were plenty more aircrafts scattered along with a couple of crew members alongside them. Other, and other agents were walking around, checking their surroundings to make sure everything was in order. At first, it appeared to be any other base, nothing seemingly special about it. It took Dominique a second to realize that they were out in the middle of the ocean; absolutely no sight of land for at least a couple hundred miles.

To say that was terrifying would've been an understatement. Of course, it was too late to turn around and head back to her apartment in Yonkers. Director Fury needed her. She gave him her word and would uphold that promise no matter how scared she may be.

Before she could dread over that for long, a woman with short red hair approached the three of them. She wore a black leather jacket with a red top underneath, black pants and boots. A fierce look spread across her face. She kept her head held high and back straight, making her seem taller than she was.

"Agent Romanoff, Captain Rogers and Dominique Holmes," Agent Coulson introduced. The woman, Agent Romanoff, glanced up and down at the asset and the super soldier, appearing to size them up and taking in whatever information she could.

"Ma'am," Captain Rogers greeted in his normal gentleman fashion. Except he didn't hold a hand out like last time, still feeling embarrassed from how Dominique reacted.

Agent Romanoff nodded back, "Hi." She then turned her focus to Agent Coulson. "They need you on the bridge. They're starting the face trace." Only he seemed to understand what she meant because he immediately exchanged a quick goodbye and left the two with the female agent.

Dominique wished he hadn't. She would rather have him showing them, or rather just her, the ropes instead of going from one agent to another. It was hard as is being in a foreign area without knowing what to expect. Everything would be easier and allow her to feel more acquainted if she stayed with one agent the entire time, but no one in the world gets what they want. After all, she didn't want to be there in the first place; in the middle of the ocean with an intelligence organization who wanted nothing to do with her except the use of her abilities. There was no point of her wanting anything when she was only a pawn in their game.

Instead of sharing her feelings, she pushed them away, as per usual. _Remember, you're the backup plan_ , she reminded herself. All she had to do was hope the other recruits Director Fury gathered would be enough to get the job done. They probably won't even need her. Just hold out for a day or two and everything will go back to the way it was. Right?

Agent Romanoff began to walk away from the quinjet, the super soldier and asset trailing alongside her. "It was quite the buzz around here, finding you in the ice. Thought Coulson was gonna swoon." The redhead brought up, trying to make small talk. The idea of Agent Coulson swooning brought a smirk to both Captain Rogers and Dominique's face. It wasn't hard to picture since he had trouble trying to contain his excitement on the plane ride. "Did he ask you to sign his Captain America trading cards yet?"

"Trading cards?" He repeated in disbelief.

Agent Romanoff's mouth curved into a smile. "They're vintage. He's very proud," she quipped.

He turned his head to the brunette beside him, silently asking for confirmation. Why he wanted that specifically from her was unclear. Maybe it was because she explained who Stephen Hawking was by referring him to another genius who was famous around his time, such as Albert Einstein. Or maybe he just wanted to know if the trading cards were real or not from someone who wasn't an agent. Either way, Dominique nodded.

Once that had been settled, they both faced forward and caught sight of one of Director Fury's other recruits. Dr. Banner paced around anxiously with his hands intertwined. He appeared just as lost and out of place as they were, maybe even more so.

As they got closer, Dominique could feel a difference between the scientist and the two beside her. There were two different life sources he emitted. One was normal like every other human she encountered. The other was definitely… something else. It was far more powerful than anything she had ever felt. His failed experiment certainly did a number on him, internally and externally.

"Doctor Banner," Captain Rogers called out. The scientist jumped slightly but quickly collected himself when he realized who announced his name.

A half smile was stretched across Dr. Banner's lips as he leaned in to shake his hand, which Captain Rogers gladly took. "Oh, yeah, hi. They told me you'd be coming." _Agent Romanoff was right, the super soldier was quite the buzz around the base,_ she thought. Then, he directed his attention towards the brunette beside him. "And you're Holmes, right? Dominique Holmes?"

Once again, a frown found its way to her face. She wasn't used to people knowing who she was. Back in Yonkers, no one knew anything about her. Just some random woman who worked at Danny's Pizzeria and lived in a rundown apartment.

Dr. Banner must've noticed her discomfort because he visibly began to panic and fumbled over his words, "I, uh, read your file, and I j-just wanted to say that your molecular structure is fascinating. I've n-never seen anything like it. It's quite remarkable."

 _Remarkable?_ Well, that was a first. The words "fascinating" and "remarkable" were never used to describe her abilities. All she ever heard was "abomination," or "freak of nature." They were right, of course. Her deadly powers weren't anything to be in awe about.

Unsure of how to respond to his compliment, Dominique resulted with an awkward "thank you" and earned a "you're welcome" from him in return.

To avoid the silence that lurked over them, Captain Rogers intervened with a change of topic. "Word is you can find the cube."

Dr. Banner clasped his hands together nervously. The rhythm of one of his heartbeats wavered for a brief moment before it followed back on the same pace. "Is that the only word on me?"

"Only word I care about."

"Must be strange for you, all of this," the scientist added in, changing the topic just as Captain Rogers did a second ago.

"Well, this is actually kind of familiar." At least he felt that way. Unlike Dominique, a fish out of water compared to everyone else there.

"Gentlemen, Holmes," Agent Romanoff spoke up from behind the three, "you might wanna step inside in a minute. It's gonna get a little hard to breathe." Only the agent appeared to know what was about to happen.

The three shared a confused look on their face as they heard a sudden whirl of engines. Many of the crew members instantly strapped down the jets, weapons, and other machinery, soaring some time to put on oxygen masks as well.

"Is this a submarine?" Captains Rogers asked, heading towards the edge alongside the other two.

"Really, they want me in a submerged pressurized metal container?" The brunette had to admit it wouldn't have been smart to keep Dr. Banner in a submarine. One thing goes wrong and they all could drown. Well, everyone _but_ her. When the ground beneath them began to raise, they all realized that they were definitely not on a submarine. It was a plane of some sort, a rather large one at that. The plane rose above the water and continued to ascend higher and higher into the air. "Oh no, this is much worse."

 _Couldn't agree more_ , she thought.

They all took that as their cue to listen to the redhead agent and followed her past the crew and through a door leading them inside. As soon as they entered, a familiar feeling started to ease its way through Dominique. The weight of life. Though she lived in an overpopulated state, an overwhelming amount of life presence can take its toll in closed spaces.

Yet, she persisted.

She couldn't risk being a weak link when Director Fury needed her, even if she was just a backup plan. She had to remain calm and focused. The sensation would pass and even out over a period of time like it always did.

Though, the more they traveled through the inside of the aircraft, the more powerful the feeling became. The energy humans emit were much stronger than plants or animals. With hundreds of people on board, it was too much for her to handle. The feeling of their heartbeats, drumming at different paces, coursed through her and drowned out all other sounds. They were deafening, intense, and overbearing, nothing like she was used to.

 _This is too much._

 _It's all too much._

What was Director Fury thinking for recruiting her? She was a ticking time bomb, not a valuable asset. Any second she could turn around, get the hell off of the flying death trap, and return to the safety of her apartment. How could she take on a literal god when it was this difficult to be in an aircraft?

As they entered a larger room with more agents, it only got worse. The numerous rhythmic beats of a heart were all that she could focus on. They were too loud, too distracting. Her mind screamed to get from the noise as far as possible. They weighed her down like cement. Clouding anything and everything around her.

Captain Rogers was taken aback by the sight of the helicarrier that it took him a moment to notice the distressed woman beside him. She appeared to be in some kind of trance, a really strange one. Her breathing was erratic, her eyes frantically searched the area around them.

"You okay?"

Somehow, his voice silenced everything away. It wasn't a slow or fading disappearance. It was quick, sudden.

Dominique lifted her head to meet his worrisome eyes. Was she okay? No, not even in the slightest. However, she felt more at ease than a second ago thanks to the Captain. The beat of her heart fell back into its normal pace, no short and quick intake of breaths, and her vision brought into focus.

For the sake of the cause, she gave a swift nod and continued moving forward. They headed towards the conference table where they found Director Fury standing in front of a bunch of what appeared to be high-tech S.H.I.E.L.D. monitors, firmly tapping the screens to control the helicarrier. After pressing a few more controls, he turned around and greeted them, which resulted with Captain Rogers handing the man a ten-dollar bill.

Why? She had no idea. It seemed better to ignore rather than question it. Either way, Fury accepted the bill with a smug smile on his face and stored it into the pocket of his long black coat. The super soldier went on to explore the rest of the area, leaving Dominique and Dr. Banner with the Director.

"Doctor, thank you for coming," he said sincerely to Dr. Banner, shaking his hand while doing so.

"Thanks for asking nicely."

Then, he turned to face the woman, "How are you holding up, Holmes?" He sounded concerned, but not in a way where he was worried about her. More so towards everyone else around her. She couldn't blame him for feeling of the sort. If she were in his shoes, she too would fret over the safety of others.

"I'll be better once we reach the ground again," she halfheartedly joked. She definitely would feel much calmer when they're back on land. Fury gave a light chuckle at her response.

"So," Dr. Banner began, "how long am I staying?"

Dominique wondered the same as well, but she already knew her answer; until the threat was taken care of. A deal she hoped she wouldn't regret.

"Once we get our hands on the tesseract, you're in the wind."

The scientist nodded in agreement. "Where are you with that," he questioned, scanning the area to find some sort of clue as to how the search was going.

Director Fury pointed over Agent Coulson, who was on the second level with the rest of the other S.H.I.E.L.D. agents. _So, this is where he went_ , Dominique thought. "We're sweeping every wirelessly accessible camera on the planet," Agent Coulson informed. "Cell phones, laptops… If it's connected to a satellite, it's eyes and ears for us."

"That's still not gonna find them in time." Agent Romanoff mentioned as she crouched by one of the screens. She was right; The search was too broad in order to find the mysterious cube.

Dr. Banner had the same thought. "You have to narrow your field. How many spectrometers you have access to?"

"How many are there," The Director asked.

"Call every lab you know. Tell them to put the spectrometers on the roof and calibrate them for gamma rays. I'll rough out a tracking algorithm, basic cluster recognition. At least we can rule out a few places." Dr. Banner shrugged off his jacket and rolled his sleeves, ready to help with the search. "Do you have somewhere for me to work?"

Fury glanced back to the redheaded woman by the comms center, signaling for her to approach. "Agent Romanoff, could you show Dr. Banner to his laboratory, please?" Agent Romanoff escorted the scientist out of the area, adding in a comment about all the equipment their lab had.

Now, it was just Dominique and the Director on the upper level.

She had no idea what to do. Was she supposed to ask him for instructions? Did she need to need to talk with anyone about the mission? Was there something she needed to be doing as an asset to ensure everything went according to plan?

"Uh, sir," she spoke up hesitantly, "what would you like me to do?" She felt like she was a child asking their parent for help. Everyone appeared to be assigned to a specific duty, yet Dominique still had no idea what her purpose was until she was the only option left.

"Come with me," he said.

He led her out the same way she came from and out into the hallway. They passed dozens of agents, some wearing business attire while others were in tactical gear. She hadn't seen so many in their uniforms since Queens five years ago.

Not a pleasant sight to see at that time. She was terrified and traumatized at the incident at Dr. Thorton's practice. Then, a swarm full of black vans with the infamous S.H.I. . logo appeared out of nowhere. Agents quickly climbed out and pointed their weapons at her, ordering her to get on the ground. The trembling twenty-two-year-old version of herself dropped to her knees instantly, weeping she never meant to hurt anyone as she raised her hands above her head defensively.

Director Fury who told them to stand down. It was obvious she was scared out of her mind. A few moments ago, she accidentally killed someone who was trying to help with her abilities. Now, there was a whole group of agents with their guns and other kind of weaponry aimed at her. Of course, she would blindly comply to anything in order to avoid any more damage than the one she already caused.

Then, he brought her to his organization peacefully and willingly. Since that tragic day, she was classified under the enhanced index.

The two took a right turn down the hall and came across a room. He pressed the button along the side and the door slid open to reveal a room. There was a twin-sized bed by the way across from them, and a small bathroom on the left. Pretty much empty other than the bed. They entered inside and the door automatically shut behind them.

"Holmes," Fury started, almost cautiously, "you'll be staying in here until we locate the Tesseract or Loki."

Was she surprised? Not really. Disappointed? A little, but that didn't mean she didn't agree. Both knew she could be a danger towards others. It was the best and safest decision for her to stay isolated until necessary. She only wished it didn't make her feel as upset as it did.

"I'll send in one of my most trusted agents to come get you when we're ready. Just stay here until then."

Dominique responded with a pressed smile. That was enough for him to head out and leave her to herself.

She was used to being alone. Most of her days were spent in her apartment, hiding herself from society. Other than the shifts at her former job, she would keep herself busy within the walls of her rundown apartment. She'd fold laundry, watch television, read articles or books, or whatever would pass time.

After carrying around her belongings the entire time, she finally set them down onto the edge of the bed. The silver briefcase took up the most room compared to the other items. She eyed the case anxiously, her hand subconsciously rubbing the wristband on the opposite arm. Soon enough, she'd be wearing the suit and gauntlets Fitzsimmons designed and joining Captain Rogers on their mission. She'd have to gather enough courage to be ready for any complications.

A sinking feeling began in the pit of her stomach. _God_ , she was nervous, but she couldn't afford to think of that right now. She just needed to distract herself while she waited. A nice distraction should help calm her mind.

She retrieved her cell phone from her purse, glancing at the luminescent screen to see if there was signal on the helicarrier. It wasn't much surprise when there wasn't a single bar. After all, they were still in the air. Yet, Dominique thought maybe S.H.I.E.L.D. would allow assets Wi-Fi access.

Guess not.

Either way, she unlocked her phone and decided to play an offline game; Quickest way for time to pass.

An hour or so passed and the woman grew bored of playing the same game over and over. With that, she exited the app and decided to look at her camera roll since there was nothing else on her mobile device she could use that didn't require service. She scrolled to the top of her photo album and swiped through the photos one by one. There weren't many pictures saved onto her phone since it was provided by S.H.I.E.L.D. when they took her in, but there was enough to occupy her. There were a few photos of Danny's Pizzeria that she'd taken a few months ago, a couple of random ones she didn't remember taking but continued to let it clog up her storage anyways, and various pictures of her parents. She'd forgotten about saving those onto the new phone.

Dominique hadn't seen them in years; five to be exact. She always wondered how they were doing. If they were okay. If they were able to move on from their only daughter's tragic mistake.

One of her supervising agents suggested for her to get back into contact with them. Maybe the agent thought she was getting lonely or something, she didn't know. Either way, the woman couldn't muster enough courage to dial the phone number engraved in her brain. It was bad enough to deal with the incident in Queens. She wasn't ready to endure a family reunion. Will she ever be ready? Honestly, Dominique could never answer that question. Only time will tell.

Suddenly, a firm knock on the door caught her attention. The door slid open and Agent Romanoff was standing in between the doorframe. The redhead was no longer in her leather jacket or jeans. Instead, she wore a tactical suit with loads of weapons strapped around her waist and legs.

Hastily, the brunette stood up from the bed like a poorly trained soldier at bootcamp. Thankfully, Agent Romanoff didn't care to notice.

"We got eyes on Loki," she stated. "The Director wants you by the hanger in five minutes. I'll be waiting by the door to take you there." Dominique nodded curtly just before the other woman left the room without saying another word.

 _Fuck_ , she instinctively thought to herself.

This was it. There was definitely no turning back now.

Quickly, Dominique unlatched the clips of the silver briefcase and retrieved the suit and gauntlets. She stripped off her clothes and slid into the suit, which was a lot more difficult than she imagined putting on. It was tight, almost like a second layer of skin. However, it was somewhat comfortable. She zipped up the front to her upper chest, undoing her power cancelling wristbands, and slipped on the gauntlets. Once she was done, she went to the bathroom to check herself to make sure everything was in place.

The person she saw in the mirror was not the Dominique Holmes she knew. No, this wasn't her at all. She appeared as someone else, not at all herself. Though, the only thing she recognized was her eyes. They were still the same scared, doe-like, brown eyes. That was the only thing about her that didn't change.

Shaking her head, Dominique exited the bathroom and out the room. Agent Romanoff leaned against the wall across the hall, eyeing the asset up and down. A ghost of a grin came on her face, but it instantly disappeared to a stone-cold expression. "Agents Fitzsimmons really did a number on your suit," she commented as she led the way to the hanger.

Whether she meant that to be humorous or not, Dominique smiled sheepishly. She felt ridiculous wearing the outfit. Although, it could be worse.

The rest of the way to the hanger was in silence. When they made it, the two were reunited with Captain Rogers, who also changed. His slacks and button down were replaced with a red, white, and blue suit, a helmet of some sort on his head, and paired with a shiny, circular shield. His outfit resembled his old uniform she'd seen in her history lessons back in high school, but it was updated to be more modern and sleeker. Agent Coulson must be very proud of himself for getting Captain America himself wearing his own designed suit.

The three gathered around another quinjet, along with another tactical agent. "Alright," Agent Romanoff began, "here's our mission. We fly out to Loki's location, we bring him in by any means necessary, and do whatever we can to find the location of the Tesseract. Our plan is to keep him alive. If he dies, then we lose our only chance on finding the cube." They all silently agreed to the plan.

Without further ado, Agent Romanoff and the rest of the team went inside the quinjet. The aforementioned woman and the other agent sat at the cockpit while Dominique and Captain Rogers sat in the back once again. A few moments later, the jet took off and they traveled to the location of Loki.


End file.
